The current House of Representatives inquiry into the legalisation of personal vaporisers should be welcomed and not criticised, as tedious, tendentious public health fascist Simon Chapman whinged in the Sydney Morning Herald yet again last week. This inquiry is a response to an international consensus of independent public health bodies that vaping is not only a substantially safer alternative to smoking cigarettes, but that tobacco smokers should be advised to switch to vaping as an effective cessation strategy.

Vapes (sometimes, incorrectly, called e-cigarettes) supplied with small amounts of nicotine dissolved in water, are legal in almost every developed nation and have been for years. Since their introduction, over 6 million European cigarette smokers have given up their habit by switching. Numerous case studies have proven not only that there is been no evidence of long-term health risks, but that they are not being taken up by non-smokers. These findings directly contradict alarmist claims that vaping will be embraced by youngsters because of its ‘cool’ or glamorised image.